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Masks On Airplanes Will Be Common Long After Mandates End

One of President Biden’s first-day orders was to put a mask mandate on federal property, and also on major transportation including airlines and railroads. For airlines, this puts federal backing around rules airlines have had in place for months. That’s why this mandate was well received by airlines.

But what happens after the mandates are gone? Wearing masks on airplanes is still likely to be common and won’t be considered strange or not necessary.

The mandate itself backs flight attendants and puts them in a stronger position with airline customers. If someone is not wearing a seatbelt, a flight attendant today can remind them to put it on and there have been no reported cases of someone refusing for freedom or other reasons. That’s because in our culture we have accepted seatbelts not only as a good safety tool, but as a law that needs to be followed. I bet that when pulled over by police for a traffic violation, one of the first thing people do is make sure that their seatbelt is on so they don’t get ticketed for that too.

Masks have been required by all U.S. airlines since JetBlue first required them back in April 2020. But there have also been multiple reports of people refusing to wear masks even when asked by a flight attendant, because unlike a seatbelt this was seen as a request, not as a law. This mandate changes that, and while some may still try to buck the rule, my guess is that the number of mask-wearing refusers on an airplane are going to diminish greatly following this executive order. It has been a law that following a flight attendant’s orders is required for a long time, but for many this somehow didn't apply when asked to wear their mask. That loophole is now gone.

Months, and maybe years from now when this pandemic is fully controlled, masks are still likely to be worn on airplanes and in denser public gatherings. A report recently noted that the number of hospital admissions for flu are greatly reduced this winter. The reason suspected is that thanks to mask wearing for Covid, people are protecting themselves from the flu also. People have masks, some match their mask to their clothes, and the whole idea is no longer consider abstract, ridiculous, or overly cautious. As a result, once the mandate is gone I expect that some number of people on every flight will still be wearing masks, and everyone will be safer as a result. Also, boarding a flight in 2025 and seeing masks on some people won’t elicit stares or confused looks. It’s part of our new life forever and things like the common cold will also be lessened as a result.

Sometimes cultural change comes very slowly, and sometimes it needs a whack on the side of the head. As many Asian countries have known for years, mask wearing is a sensible thing for overall health and protection in some situations. It is not a “while we must only” activity and the most common place these will be worn in the future is onboard airplanes and in other crowded spaces.